Xfinity vs. CenturyLink Internet Review 2023

If you’re moving, your internet price just increased, or you’re not getting the Wi-Fi speeds you want, it’s time to look for a new internet service provider (ISP).

If Xfinity and CenturyLink are two of the providers available for your address, you might wonder how they compare. Well, wonder no longer! We strongly encourage you to go with Xfinity if you can.

Let’s talk about why we prefer Xfinity to CenturyLink in most cases—but in the meantime, double-check to make sure these internet provider services are available where you live.

Guide to this Xfinity vs. CenturyLink review:

• Prices and plans
• Internet speed
• Customer service
• Methodology
• FAQ

We’re giving this one to Xfinity, as it starts at a lower price and has more price and plan options. It’s also available in more states. So if you move or your internet needs change, you may be able to keep Xfinity as your ISP, which is helpful for long-term financial planning. However, the contracts, data cap, and post-promo price hikes are a downside to this service.

Xfinity did extend its data cap over the last few years. Now you can stream up to 1.2 TB a month with some Xfinity plans, while others offer unlimited data.

You can get out of an Xfinity contract—if you’re willing to pay $10 more a month. It’s not the most cost-effective solution for customers, but paying extra to go month-to-month might save you money in the long run should you need to end service early.

Most Xfinity plans use cable connections, which means you can get speeds reaching a pretty fast clip. If you want something even faster, you

On the other hand, CenturyLink starts at a higher cost, has only two price/plan options, and serves fewer states. The lack of contracts or data cap almost makes up for these limitations, but not quite. It's possible that CenturyLink can’t accommodate you moving to a different state or needing to change your internet plan. You may find yourself left high and dry and hunting for a new service.

The Simply Unlimited Internet (again, no data caps!) seems like a good deal at first, but it’s a DSL service, meaning it runs on the slow side.

The CenturyLink Fiber internet plan is a much better option for reliable speed but is also more expensive. Oof.

Both ISPs offer router rental options, but it raises your monthly bill if you go that route (get it?). If you want to avoid those costs, here’s how to use your own router with Xfinity, and here’s how to choose an Xfinity-compatible router.

Happily, the routers from both Xfinity and CenturyLink are also modems, so you don’t have to worry about a second piece of equipment.

If you want a side of TV with your home internet, you’ve come to the right place. Both of these internet service providers offer TV and internet bundles. Xfinity has its own TV service (Xfinity TV), while CenturyLink partners with DIRECTV. Or, if you want a side of mobile with your home internet, Xfinity is offering a free Unlimited Intro mobile plan for two years when you switch to an Xfinity Fast plan.

Just know that bundling up television service with your internet provider may not save you money. In some cases, separately buying the two services—or even investing in a completely different TV option altogether—makes more sense.

For instance, Xfinity may have faster internet speeds than CenturyLink, but its cable TV has far fewer channels than DIRECTV. If options matter to you, stick with Netflix or try another cable provider rather than getting an Xfinity bundle.

In our fastest ISPs report, Xfinity ties with Cox Internet for the fastest internet, while CenturyLink doesn’t make the top seven. But CenturyLink doesn’t have a data cap, which is hugely appealing for those with a lot happening online. It also has a better upload speed range (which is great for YouTubers).

Internet speed often depends on connection type, and in this case, type probably does account for much of the speed differences between Xfinity and CenturyLink.

Xfinity’s plans mainly use cable internet, which is pretty fast. CenturyLink uses both DSL (very slow) and fiber (very fast), which averages to be, well, average.

While we urge potential CenturyLink customers to skip CenturyLink’s DSL plan and go for the fiber, that sadly increases your internet bill. So we don’t blame you if you favor Xfinity cable speeds and prices.

Over the years, Xfinity has generously extended its data cap for some plans and locations to 1.2TB (1,200 MB). According to our friends at HSI, 1.2TB gets you (among other things) over 150 hours of 4K streaming a month. For most of us, that’s just fine—but if your habit is to get home from work and binge until bedtime, you can max out fairly quickly. You either need no data cap or to stream in 1080p (but we understand that for some cinephiles, that would be a visual tragedy).

Xfinity’s data usage policy goes like this: You receive a courtesy month of extra data once every 12 months. If you go over your data allotment twice in a 12-month period, you have to pay for the second (and third, fourth, etc.) month at a rate of $10 per 50GB, up to $100.

Xfinity also offers unlimited data for certain plans and locations. If you’re curious what kinds of plans Xfinity offers where you live, our ZIP internet finder is a great way to start.

CenturyLink has no data caps at all, which is handy. You can stream 4K all day, every day if that’s your style.

We pull our internet customer service ratings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. This organization measures how happy Americans are with the customer service they receive across various sectors.

According to ACSI, Xfinity has a better customer service rating at 66 versus CenturyLink’s 60.

What does this mean? The top internet ACSI score is 72 (Verizon Fios), putting Xfinity close-ish to having one of the best ISP scores. But the best possible ACSI score is 100, which means internet service providers tend to underperform in the customer service arena in general.

Xfinity is even part of Comcast, which has famously bad customer service. So it’s a shock that CenturyLink is somehow worse.

But don’t despair! We have a few customer service tips to get the most out of your calls with any ISP’s representatives.

In the Xfinity vs. CenturyLink matchup, Xfinity definitely wins.

But depending on location or your data cap needs, you might want to go with CenturyLink instead.

• Price: Xfinity. Xfinity starts cheaper, is more widely available, and offers three times as many plan options as CenturyLink.
• Internet speed: Both. Xfinity is faster, but CenturyLink has no data caps.
• Data caps: CenturyLink. While Xfinity’s data cap situation isn’t bad, CenturyLink doesn’t cap you in any way, shape, or form. Boo-yah.
• Customer service: Xfinity. Surprisingly, the ACSI rates Xfinity Comcast’s customer service higher than CenturyLink’s.

How do we objectively compare two internet providers?

Luckily, internet service is measured in numbers: Prices, data caps, projected upload and download speeds, and actual upload and download speeds.

We spend a lot of time gathering this data and then crunching it to see what’s objectively, numerically better.

As for customer service, we have a reliable source that takes the qualifiable and put it into quantifiable: the ACSI. Armed with this score, we can compare two customer services without our own biases taking over.

After going through this process, we found that generally, Xfinity is a better service for most people than CenturyLink.